Mantle showcased an unprecedented combination of speed and power and his tape-measure home runs thrilled fans for nearly two decades (1951-1969). During what many refer to as the Golden Age of baseball more young boys idolized The Mick than any other player of the era. 365 with 173 hits, 34 home runs and 94 RBI as well as a league-leading 121 runs scored and 146 walks. He won his second consecutive AL MVP award in 1957 as he batted. In 1956, Mantle had a career year led the AL in batting average (.353), home runs (52) and RBI (130) to win the elusive Triple Crown as well as the American League Most Valuable Player award. In his first five seasons in New York, Mickey averaged 144 hits, 24 home runs and 89 RBI and starting in 1952, earned his first of 20 All-Star selections. At the end of the season, Mickey moved over to the vacated centerfield, as Joltin' Joe DiMaggio entered retirement, and remained there for the majority of his career. The injury would nag him for the duration of his career. Facing the New York Giants in the World Series, Mantle suffered a severe knee injury, potentially a torn ACL, in Game 2 chasing down a fly ball off the bat of fellow rookie Willie Mays. The Yankees sent the young phenom to the Kansas City Blues, but after only 40 games with the club was called up to New York for the stretch run as the Yankees ran away with the American League pennant. And, to add to the extraordinary pressure, DiMaggio announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 1951 season, Mickey's rookie campaign. He was originally assigned the number "6" to follow Babe Ruth's #3, Lou Gehrig's #4 and teammate Joe DiMaggio's #5. Mantle's meteoric rise through the ranks of the New York farm system compounded by the press' coverage of the young phenom who the dubbed to become the " next" Yankees star. The New York Yankees signed Mickey a year later after his high school graduation and assigned him to the minor leagues. When a Yankees scout came to see one of Mantle's teammate's Mickey hit three home runs in the game and wowed fans and the scout alike. As a teenager, his baseball career, and potentially his life was nearly ended when he suffered a injury that turned into a severe infection on the football field in high school. Raised in Oklahoma, Mickey was the son of Mutt Mantle, a lead miner and former minor league player in his own right, who reared him to be a big league player and taught The Mick how to bat from both sides of the plate in anticipation of manager options as relievers were becoming more prevalent. Mickey Charles Mantle (OctoAugust 13, 1995), like his predecessor in the New York Yankees centerfield, Joe DiMaggio, became one of the most popular figures in sports history both during and after his playing career.
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